That isn’t how I’ve always felt. As a congressman, and more
recently as a senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples.
Then something happened that led me to think through my position
in a much deeper way.

Two years ago, my son Will, then a college freshman, told my
wife, Jane, and me that he is gay. He said he’d known for some
time, and that his sexual orientation wasn’t something he chose;
it was simply a part of who he is. Jane and I were proud of him
for his honesty and courage. We were surprised to learn he is gay
but knew he was still the same person he’d always been. The only
difference was that now we had a more complete picture of the son
we love.

While more and more conservatives are coming around to support
gay marriage, Portman is clearly the highest-profile Republican
elected official to do so.